Look at the map, my dear reader, and consider the province from the
point of view of the fish and their habits; it is the fishes' heaven,
and being so it is certainly the paradise of anglers. A glance at the
map will show that between Uleaborg in the north and Wiborg in the
south there must be many spots which, to the keen fishing man, would
in all probability present such piscatorial attractions as would
entitle them to be called, as I have called one particular spot about
to be described, "A Finland Paradise." I believe that the salmon
fishing on the Ulea at Uleaborg, for instance, is so excellent that
those who have deserted Norway or Scotland in favour of this remote
Finnish spot are inclined to go no more a-roving, but to cry "Eureka,"
and spend the rest of their days by Bothnia's placid waters. But of
this I can only speak from hearsay and from the printed reports of
others, and will only add that I have been informed that fishing
rights are easily obtainable at Uleaborg; that such rights are
absurdly inexpensive; and that there is some one in that distant city
who can speak English, and who can put the traveller in the way of
getting an introduction into the best salmon society.
But my Finland Paradise is not in far Uleaborg, nor yet in any of the
thousand or ten thousand other places which on the testimony of the
map of Finland must be equally worthy of the title. I must warn my
readers that there is no admission to my paradise, excepting by favour
of those happy ones who possess the right to inhabit it. In other
words it is not, like Uleaborg and hundreds of other places,
accessible to the ordinary travelling man and the itinerant sportsman.
Its doors are closed to the public; the fishing is preserved, rightly
and jealously preserved.
There is a railway, the Finnish Railway, as it is called, which runs
from St. Petersburg to Hango, at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland. On
this railway, at a distance of four hours from St. Petersburg, is
Wiborg, the very ancient capital and castle of the Karelian Finns, who
were conquered by Torkel C'nutson in 1293. From Wiborg there is a
branch line to Imatra, built for the accommodation of tourists anxious
to visit the wonderful rapids or falls at the last-named place. Imatra
is on a river known variously as the Vuoksen, or the Voksa, which
connects the great Saima Lake with the still greater Ladoga; which,
again, is connected with the open sea, as all the world knows, by the
Neva. The Voksa is, I should think, one of the most beautiful rivers
in the world. Wide, and clear as crystal, we have nothing like it in
England; it has no tide to yellow it, no navigation to stir and
distress its calm depths; the fish--grayling and trout--love it, and
so does every human creature who has ever set eyes upon it, and who
knows how to appreciate a big, free, clean, noble river when he sees
it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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